3 replies to this topic

[gergor]

Well, half the year is gone, some albums have released, concerts have been played and tons of other stuff happened.
So I'm just curious what's your personal 2012 best of list till now.

Here's mine:

Albums:
(1) Steelwing - Zone of Alienation: What to say about this? Awesome piece of traditional 80s Heavy Metal
(2) Unisonic - Unisonic: Finally! Kai Hansen and Michael Kiske reunited again! As far away from early Helloween as it could get, but hell of a hardrock album in spite of some even for ears that are used to Euro power metal very cheesy parts...
(3) 3 Inches of Blood - Long Live Heavy Metal: Did anyone expect a bad album from the Canadians? I guess not, but whith this album they trample everybody down who still says true heavy metal of steel is dead.

Live performances:
(1) Hell - Geiselwind: I thought I knew what to expect... But then everything went different: The concert was replaced from the Musichall to the way larger Eventhalle. So David Bower's theatralic performance could be carried to the extreme! Absolute highlight: David Bower announcing some of the songs from a pulpit on stage. And of course the music was awesome, very cool NWOBHM sound which Bower's rather weird voice perfectly fits in. (Unfortunately, my video recording kinda sucks, hehe)
(2) Powerwolf - Augsburg: First I was a bit disappointed. I only saw Powerwolf in the Eventhalle before with a big stage, pyros and stuff. And then the shock: The Spectrum Club in Augsburg wasn't bigger than one of my favourite pubs! But this rather intimate atmosphere made the show something special - though Attila's same stories over and over again could start to bore some people.
(3) Fiddler's Green - Würzburg: A German band that plays Irish folk/punk? Yeah, always a lot of fun, exhausting jumping around and some beer - what else do you want?

Disappointment of the year:
I can say already say it: Sonata Arctica's new album Stones Grow Her Name! It's not too bad at all, it has indeed rather enjoyable songs on it. But that's it. The songs are just enjoyable. As quickly their in your head they're already gone. And the new "Wildfire" songs are nothing less than blasphemy. There's not a single song which made me excited, happy, sad or caused any emotion in me. I always just thought "Aha. Nice song." (except for the "Wildfires"...). I really expected more...

Looking forward to:
(1) Some festivals that take place in my hometown
(2) The announcement of the Candlemass tour
(3) Iced Earth European tour
(4) New Grave Digger album
(5) Summer vacation

[Kathlib the Prophet]

Metallica's Beyond Magnetic EP has been my favorite release of this year, but that's probably to be expected. All of the songs are really strong, with "Hate Train" being the weakest (but it does have an awesome solo). I rather think "Rebel of Babylon" is in the top three songs recorded in the Death Magnetic sessions. "Hell and Back" should have replaced "The Unforgiven III" on DM. Not that I dislike any of the songs on DM, but I think the album would have had an even better reception had at least two of the songs been switched out, but I understand why the songs on Beyond Magnetic weren't put on the album.

The really like The Offspring's new album, Days Go By. It's the same kind of music you typically get with The Offspring, but that's fine, and it's a stronger album than their last. "Slim Pickens Does the Right Thing and Rides the Bomb to Hell" is my favorite song off the new album.

I really didn't care for Linkin Park's Living Things. A Thousand Suns was a spectacular album, which I listened to for a long time, and I was hoping for something more in that direction. I do enjoy "Lost in the Echo" and "Burn It Down," but overall there's just too much rap throughout all the songs.

[gergor]

Well, I should give a try to The Offspring's new album. I somehow lost sight of them, when I got into metal. So the album before is absolutely unknown to me.
But much to my surprise, I really enjoyed their Rock am Ring appearance that was aired on TV.
Maybe it's time to drop this "I am so true, I only listen to heavy, thrash, doom and power metal!"-attitude and rediscover my favourite bands from a past that is not that far away .
The only problem is that there's so awkwardly much old stuff on my shopping list.

But I guess, I will never get along with Linkin Park. They get a lot of airplay on several radio stations here and what I heard so far doesn't attract my attention at all.
And telling me that there's "too much" rap throughout the songs, doesn't improve my disinterest.

Edited by gergor, 17 July 2012 - 11:22 PM.

[gergor]

Today I discovered something for the retro-/70s-/hard-/bluesrock fans out there:
Zodiac - A Bit Of Devil

A very great album, that has the potential to get a top-position in my small list...